Sisterly Love
by GloriousBright
Summary: This was a request from one of my friends to write a Pavarti/Padma fic. This is a one shot fic. Shoujo-ai ahead. Enjoy.


_Twas a request from a friend that I write about Pavarti and Padma, so here is my attempt at it. For the record, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters found within the books, as they belong to J. K .Rowling._

"Oh, Padma! Do get up already!"

"Uh...Wha?" Padma tried opening her eyes, before scrunching them close again. Why were mornings so bright?

"Wake up, sleepy! It'd be nice to have time for breakfast before class, you know." Padma also wondered why she had to have friends that were so bright in the morning, themselves. Not wanting to hear her go on any longer, Padma pushed off the covers and stalked out of the bed. 

"Well, aren't we the ray of sunshine this morning? I'll be in the common room, waiting." It was a good thing that the friend turned then, or they could have had a splendid argument revolving around Padma's mocking mimic. 

As usual, she was the last of the fifth year Ravenclaw girls to get up. She rather preferred it that way. It meant that she got to get ready for the day by herself, instead of having to deal with early morning niceties. Rubbing her face, she made her way to the wardrobe to pull out the clothes for the day. She contemplated, not for the first time, that the navy and bronze of her house tie was rather unattractive. Sighing, she made her way to the wash area to rinse her face and work on plaiting her hair. She vaguely heard some girls greet her good morning, but they did it mostly out of habit. They knew that Padma Patil was not a morning person, and not even You-Know-Who would have been able to get a 'good morning' out of her if he so wished. 

"Padma!" came the call from the common room. 

The replied, "Coming," was muttered so inarticulately from the washroom that it would be a wonder if Padma's friend had even caught it. Giving herself a once over in the mirror, ensuring that no hairs were out of place and that her tie was nicely knotted, she made her way out of Ravenclaw house, barely pausing as she walked through the common room, which took her friend by surprise.

"You know, Padma, you really should try and wake up earlier."

"Mmm-hmmm."

"Is Pavarti as bad as you in the morning?"

"Nnn-mmm"

After a few moments, Padma's companion took that to be a negative. "Doesn't it bother her that you're such a louse in the morning? I bet she's a morning person. So much bubblier." The friend arched her eyes over at Padma, wondering if mention of her twin would bring more of a reaction than was currently being shown. 

"Mmm-hmmm." Apparently, not.

"Right." After breakfast was eaten and some tea was placed in her system, Padma would be as sharp as any other Ravenclaw. It was just the mornings that made her seem even duller than a Hufflepuff. 

***

Washing down the toast tips she had eaten with some tea, Padma was already feeling much more awake and aware of her surroundings. What a horrible thing waking up could be. She fancied that she must have alienated a good portion of Ravenclaw house just from her bad morning behavior alone. Not to mention that most of them thought her to be a haughty snob as it was. She supposed that came from the fact that she didn't really have many friends within her own house. Plus, she doubted that anyone from her year or higher would forget how traumatized she was when she was placed in a different house than her sister. Some seemed to have taken personal offense at her not being thrilled at being a Ravenclaw. They had interpreted her reaction as meaning she wanted to be nothing more than a Gryffindor. The truth was that Padma could have cared less if she had been placed in Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or the broom closet, as long as she was placed with Pavarti. How had they expected her to be without her twin? The Weasleys had been able to stay together, why couldn't they? Stupid Sorting Hat. She was determined to prove that it was out to ruin lives, but know one was willing to believe her. Not even Pavarti, and that had hurt the most.

Pavarti had been thrilled at getting into Gryffindor. She had been so thrilled that it had not occurred to her that she had just been separated from her twin who had been placed in Ravenclaw just moments before. She had wanted to protest, but then Harry had been called up to be sorted, and really, there was no way she could have caught anybody's attention when the famed boy was in question. She'd have to be You-Know-Who himself to curry that honor. Suddenly realizing the great tragedy of Padma's life, Pavarti had turned to her, smiled and said, "Don't worry, Pad. We're twins! Nothing can come between us." Apparently, Pavarti had not paid much attention to how big Hogwarts was as they had entered from the lake. That was a whole lot of castle when two people were not in the same house. 

Padma sighed at the memory, but was soon shaken out of her reverie by someone poking her arm.

"Padma, did you hear that? You mustn't have, since you have said a word!" 

"Seeing, as how you've determined that I didn't hear anything, perhaps you could tell me what it was I didn't hear."

"Oh, really! You are such an odd one, sometimes," her friend replied in a huff, but could not stay upset long. Apparently, the news was far too exciting. "They're going to let us go into Hogsmeade tomorrow! Isn't that wonderful? And here we thought that they weren't going to let us out at all this year."

Padma was surprised by the news. She couldn't believe that she hadn't heard it in the first place. Cedric's death was still very clear in all of their minds, especially the teachers, and many students had supposed that trips to Hogsmeade would be completely out of the question this year. They all did care about their safety, granted, but how horrible it would be not to even be able to go to the nearby village. Padma had been particularly down at the thought, since it meant less time she could spend with Pavarti. But now, there was no need to be grumpy. She even allowed herself to smile brilliantly, something unheard of in the morning, which startled several of her fellow Ravenclaws.

***

Pavarti and Lavender were giggling together at the Gryffindor table before heading off to Divinations. Ron Weasley and Harry Potter were rolling their eyes at them. It really did not take much to set those two off. Girls were so silly sometimes. Good thing Hermione wasn't one, they thought. Turning to finish the rest of their breakfast hurriedly, Harry caught sight of Pavarti, though he could have sworn Pavarti was in the other direction. And that Pavarti had not been wearing a Ravenclaw house tie. Being more accustomed to twins, Ron piped up a greeting.

"Hallo, Padma! Here to visit your other half?" Barely even glancing at him, Padma continued towards her twin. Padma apparently had still not forgiven him for having ignored her at the Yule Ball the year before. Ron muttered to Harry, "Well, Pavarti's the half that got all the humor, and Padma got none. Bad mix, mind you. Bad mix."

"And Fred and George?"

"Hmmm. I suppose twins are just bad mixes in general," Ron offered. Hermione who had been sitting off to the side trying to read the entire newspaper before class, simply snorted. Ron was impossible.

Walking up to her sister and her friend, Padma was inwardly hurt. Even Ron Weasley knew that they were two halves of the same whole, but here Pavarti was with that Lavender girl. It hurt that her sister seemed to have chosen this girl to be her replacement in daily affairs. But there was no need to upset Pavarti, so she tried to be as pleasant as possible.

"Hey Pav. Was wondering if you were signing up to go into Hogsmeade tomorrow as well."

"Pad! Don't be silly. Of course we are." Pavarti greeted her twin with a giggle and a hug. Padma hugged back but wondered at the "we." Surely, she was not implying that Lavender would be spending the day with them. She never got to spend time alone with her own twin anymore!

"It'll be fun Padma, don't you think?" Lavender gushed. Of a sudden, she got the same look a startled rabbit gets when it hears something nearby, even something as harmless as a pinecone falling. "We're going to be late for Divinations if we don't hurry, Pavarti! You wouldn't want to miss anything Professor Trelawney has to say, would you?"

"Oh! Pad, we'll talk later, okay? I do wish you would take Divinations. Professor Trelawney is so wonderful! I have to run now. Ron! Harry! Don't you dare make Professor Trelawney wait again! Hurry now!" With that, Pavarti was off, herding off the two reluctant boys, not even giving Padma a chance to respond. 

***

"Padma seemed upset," Pavarti mused aloud as they walked towards the tower that Professor Trelawney held her class.

"She always seems upset," Lavender offered. "Really, Pavarti, I don't see how the two of you can be twins. You're so different."

That made Pavarti blink. Was Padma really so different from her? She knew that they had differences. There had to be, otherwise they would have both been in the same house. But, were they so different as to make Lavender come out with a comment like that? Pavarti couldn't believe that, but she became uncharacteristically silent as she thought over Padma.

Her sister had not been terribly happy since they entered Hogwarts and had become uncharacteristically quiet and brooding. She had always been more pensive and quicker than herself, and that's why she made a good choice for Ravenclaw, but she'd never been as miserable looking as she did nowadays. How had she not noticed how upset her sister had become? She wondered if any of Padma's friends had noticed, but that made her pause. When they returned home for holiday breaks, Padma rarely spoke about her fellow Ravenclaws, let alone anybody that would be a close friend. She wondered why. Padma could be hard to get to know at first, but she was a wonderful person when you knew her. Pavarti was certain she didn't know anybody more wonderful. Then why was it that she was miserable?

Sitting down next to Lavender who was perplexed at her silence, Pavarti continued to muse over her twin. The trouble had started from that Sorting Hat incident, she was certain. Padma still called for the death of that Hat at times. Pavarti had learned to leave well enough alone and only offered her sister tea and cakes when she went off on one of her Sorting Hat tirades. So, Padma was upset that they were in different houses. Really, you'd think she'd be over it by now. They were in their fifth year, for Merlin's sake. So they weren't in the same house, they were still twins and nothing could change that. Sometimes Padma would get mad at her, claiming that she never got to see her anymore. So, was she supposed to feel guilty that she was able to make friends within her house and Padma had not? Of a sudden, she was rather mad at Padma. And then she felt guilty for being mad at her. And, then she was mad for feeling guilty that she had been mad. It is quite certain that the cycle would have continued, had Professor Trelawney not decided to begin the class in her usual style. 

She said that she had done some enchantment to know the future of the persons who sat in specific chairs. It seems that the chair Harry Potter had chosen, had promised a dark and mournful fate for the one who would sit in it. Harry seemed rather chipper at this. It was something of a novelty not to have his death predicted outright. Pavarti and Lavender frowned in unison. How could he take it all so lightly? Did he not understand what Professor Trelawney was trying to tell him? Why did he never take her seriously whenever she predicted that his life was in danger?

"My dear!" Professor Trelawney exclaimed as she turned to face Pavarti. "Oh, but I saw a special treat in the future of whoever sat on your seat, though they might not think so at first. You shall discover true love." After a moment's pause, she mysteriously added, "And soon."

Pavarti was too stunned to really make anything of the Divinations Professors vision. True love? But who? And how soon?

***

The times before and after a Hogsmeade visit were always full of excitement. At present, the common rooms of all four houses were a bustle of people planning what they were going to do the next day. In Slytherin house, Draco Malfoy was plotting on how he could get back at Harry Potter, while Crabbe and Goyle were drooling after the sweets they would by at Honeydukes. In Gryffindor house Harry wondered if Draco was going to get back at him, the Weasley twins were writing up a list of supplies they needed for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and Pavarti planned with Lavender. In Ravenclaw house, Padma was fervently hoping that Pavarti wasn't making plans with Lavender as she listened to her fellow housemates talk about meeting up at the Leaky Cauldron at three in the afternoon for a round of butterbeer. 

"Meet up with us, Padma?" 

"I don't know. I'm supposed to spending the day with Pavarti," she replied politely. Nighttime Padma was worlds different from Morning Padma, and was better liked. As clever as the Ravenclaws were, they never paused to consider that this was one person. They simply considered her as two different people, and so many avoided talking to Morning Padma if at all possible. 

As the night progressed, the same plans were hashed and rehashed dozens of times before the plotters decided it made more sense to go to sleep so that they might actually be able to carry out their plans. A certain Gryffindor laid in her bed thinking over the events of her day worriedly, while a certain Ravenclaw looked forward to the next day with determination.

***

The next day was overcast, but that was no deterrent on the good mood of the Hogwarts' students going down to Hogsmeade. They had formed groups prior to leaving Hogwarts and were chatting about their plans for the day. Again. Harry, Ron and Hermione were of course in one group, but Harry kept looking around as though he were expecting something. Another famous grouping was Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, with Malfoy looking particularly smug and devious. No one else of course noted this. Padma had met up with Pavarti and Lavender, and the three were talking their way to Hogsmeade.

Padma had to admit that Lavender wasn't such a bad girl and did enjoy talking to her, but she would still feel pangs of jealousy whenever this girl had a private joke with Pavarti that she didn't know about. She really didn't know how much more she could take. For four years running, she had put up with being isolated from her twin. She didn't plan to let this year be the fifth.

"Oh! Padma!" gushed Lavender. "You'll never guess what Professor Trelawney said yesterday."

Padma was normally never too curious about the Divinations professor. She knew that her twin worshipped the woman, and so put with it for her. Glancing at her twin, she was surprised to note that Pavarti was blushing. Her curiosity having been piqued, she provided Lavender with the follow up question she had been fishing for.

"What she say? And don't tell me that Harry Potter is going to die a gruesome death. She's already predicted that one."

"Don't be ridiculous, Padma. Everyone knows that!" Then, her boisterous tone dropped down to the hushed tones of a conspirator. "She said that Pavarti was going to find true love soon. Can you imagine? Who do you think it could be?"

Padma was rather taken aback and was only able to produce a small "Oh" for the sake of the conversation. Pavarti was a definite shade of red underneath her dark skin and seemed rather intent on looking forward, so there was no hope of getting a comment out of her. Not being one to normally agree with Hermione Granger, Padma usually was of the same opinion when it came to Professor Trelawney. None of her predictions actually came true, and yet people like Pavarti and Lavender would believe in them. But this was one prediction that rather upset her. Even if it hadn't actually been 'seen' by Professor Trelawney, the fact of the matter was that one day Pavarti _would fall in love, and not even being twins would save them from the fate of being permanently separated. Padma began to panic internally. _

***

The twins' little group had decided to go into Honeydukes when they arrived at the village of Hogsmeade. Lavender had gotten fed up of the twins' silence. Even if Padma wasn't as lively as her sister, she was usually far more responsive to conversation than she was today. Noting that there was nothing to be done about them, Lavender had decided that her time would be better spent flirting with a particular group of sixth years who she had seen entering Honeydukes. Both Padma and Pavarti would have joined, under usual circumstances, but today they wandered blindly through the shelves of the store while Lavender had made a beeline for her targets. 

"Pavarti?" As much as she was bothered by her own musings, Padma was becoming increasingly worried about her sister's atypical silence. 

"Oh! Padma. Sorry, I was just thinking." 

"Do you want to talk?" Pavarti was supposed to be the happy-go-lucky one. Seeing her so worked up made her anxious.

"Oh, I don't know. It's silly, really." She picked up a brightly packaged sweet off the shelf, pretended to look at it, and replaced it. 

"Pav, you can tell me anything! You know that." She had to know that. 

Pavarti looked up from where she had stooped down to take a closer look at some sugar violets that made violets temporarily grow in your hair to give her sister a curious look. She looked back down at the sweets, her brows furrowed in thought. Biting her lower lip her mind was making a rapid succession of propositions, counterpropositions and finally a decision. 

"Alright, but not here. Let's go someplace where we can talk in private."

"And Lavender?"

Glancing to where her friend was laughing and clinging to a sixth year Hufflepuff, she said, "I think she's alright where she is, don't you?"

Padma had to laugh. "She's in her element, that's for sure. Come on. I have an idea of where we can be alone." Grabbing Pavarti's hand she led her out of Honeydukes and headed on the path towards the Shrieking Shack, the most haunted place in England. Before leaving the village of Hogsmeade, they passed a disconcerted Ron and Hermione.

"Hermione, I swear! Harry was just here. He would have told us if he was going to run off."

"Oh really, Ron! Harry is old enough to take care of himself. There hasn't been anything to make us think that Harry was in danger." As an afterthought, she added, "Recently."

"He's been wizard-napped, I tell you! My best friend, gone. Hold on. You don't think he went chasing off after that Cho girl, do you?"

"Oh, Ron," Hermione's voice sounded both exasperated and reluctant. "No, I don't think he went after Cho. After all…"

The sounds of the conversation, or argument, faded as the twins exited Hogsmeade. After the Yule Ball from the prior year, neither one cared much for Harry Potter or Ron Weasley. 

***

Before coming within sight of the actual Shack, Padma led the way into the forest on the side of the road. The chances of other students being in here were so unlikely that Padma felt that they could talk about whatever without having to worry about others listening in. They continued walking for a bit before they both started talking at the same time. They then fell silent.

"You go first, Pad."

"But you said there was something you wanted to say."

They stared at each other for a second before breaking out in laughter. Linking arms, they continued to walk through the forest. It had been a while since they had done something like that. When they had been younger, they would always try to talk at the same time. 

"I miss that."

"What do you mean, Pad?"

"What we just did. You know, the twin thing. We never get to do that anymore since we're in different houses."

"Can we skip the Sorting Hat Tirade today?" Pavarti gave her a twin a meaningful look. 

"Why?"

"Because it's just silly to-" Pavarti started as Padma whirled to face her, with a face that looked as though her world were coming close to an end.

"That's the problem! You never take me seriously. You think I'm overreacting, when I'm not. I'm honestly scared."

"Scared? What can you possibly be scared of, Padma?" Why was her sister talking like this? Pavarti just stared at her sister, not knowing what to do or say to calm her down. 

Padma was close to tears. Everything she had been covering up with the ever-popular Sorting Hat Tirade was coming out, "I'm scared of losing you! Don't you see? First, we get put into separate houses. You make different friends. And one day, you'll fall in love with someone and leave me alone! Leave me, who loves you more than all the world, _alone_!" Her face was now covered in tears, her eyes locked with those in front of hers. 

"Oh. Oh, Padma! How can you talk like that?" Pavarti raised her hand to touch her twin's face. Pavarti's face contorted into an expression of concern as Padma let out a sob. "How many times do I have to tell you? We're twins. Nothing's going to break us up. Not some stupid Hat. Not the fact that we're not physically together at school. Not anything!" Wanting to comfort her twin as much as possible, Pavarti hugged her and whispered fiercely in her ear, "I love you, Padma. No one can change that. No one could ever replace what you are to me."

Returning the embrace, Padma responded to Pavarti, "I love you, too."

Separating, Pavarti placed her hands on either side of Padma's face. Their faces were close. Smiling, she said, "See. Now don't you feel silly for all that ranting you've done these past few yea-"

Pavarti didn't get a chance to finish her sentence, nor did she try to. Padma had closed the gap between their faces and had kissed her twin on the lips. The kiss was intended to be short, but Padma found the kiss being returned and deepened. Gathering her courage, Padma's tongue made its way past Pavarti's lips where it met up with another tongue. A frantic little fight emerged between the two tongues as they pushed against each other. Every so often, they would slide off target and stroke the inside of cheeks, the top of mouths and the inside of lips. After what seemed like a short eternity, they broke off the kiss at the same time, their breaths heavy for want of air. 

"Just you remember," Padma admonished, "No one could ever love you like I do."

Pavarti giggled, "Fine. On one condition: you remember that I could never love anyone else."

They both laughed. Pavarti grabbed Padma's hand and started leading her out of the forest.

"Why return already? We could stay and-"

"Naughty girl! Besides, Lavender will have noticed by now that we aren't there and you had mentioned meeting your housemates at the Three Broomsticks. I'm definitely in the need for some butterbeer. How about you?"

Padma simply smiled in response. Her sister was happy again as was exhibited by her verbosity. She supposed that they had plenty of time ahead of them to explore their love for each other further, and she did find that butterbeer would really suit her current mood. 

As the sisters made their way through the trees to return to the path that would lead them back to Hogsmeade they passed close by a glade. Had they been cognizant of their surroundings they would have noticed an unusual pair in that glade. 

"Finally Potter! Now, I'll get you back for that hard on you gave me before Potions the other day!"

"Please, Malfoy. You're such a drama queen. Mmrrff!!!! Mmmm…Draco…"

Pavarti might have been interested to have noticed this conversation, as it would have made her feel better for having been so ignored by Harry at the Yule Ball, but as it was she didn't hear and could not have been happier, considering her present company.

_So, I've decided that Shoujo-ai/Yuri/Femmeslash is just not my genre. I tried my best. Hope you liked it. ^_^_


End file.
